Abstract

A
study was carried out in Iringa and Kilolo districts of Iringa region of
Tanzania in July 2007. The objective of the study was to characterise pig
production system and identify constraints and opportunities of small-scale pig
farming. The study farms were purposively selected and included only those farms
with pigs (n=41) during the study period. Data collection was based on
individual interviews using a questionnaire, examination of animals and animal
houses, as well as, direct observations.

Whereas all (100%) households reported livestock keeping and crop
farming as their main sources of income, only 31.7% and 14.6% of household heads
said they depended on business and salaried employment, respectively. The types
of livestock owned by farmers were pigs (97.5%), chicken (75.5%), cattle
(17.1%), rabbits and guinea pigs (12.2%) and goats (9.8%). The average number of
pigs per household was 2.9±2.0
(ranging from 1 to 8) while that of chicken was 14.5±9.8
(4-56). For the cattle, small stock (rabbits and guinea pigs) and goats, the
average number of animals per household was 8.3±9.7, 5.2± 5.5 and 5.0±4.5,
respectively. The main basal ration fed to pigs as reported by farmers was maize
bran (100%), green leafy materials (12.2%) and vegetable residues (4.9%).
Supplementary feeds provided to pigs were mainly sunflower seed cake (38.9%),
vegetable residues (19.4%) and minerals (13.9%). The main production constraints
identified by farmers included unavailability of animal feeds, inadequate animal
health and inadequate extension service and diseases. Important pig diseases and
signs of pigs perceived to be important were mange (44%), worm infestation
(35%), hind limb paralysis (14%), abortion (4%), cysticercosis (2%) and
diarrhoea (1%).

Despite availability of reliable market for pigs in the study
area, the average number of pigs kept per farm was very small indicating
existence of opportunity for increased pig production which could be sustainable
in the area.

Key words: Animal feeds, flock structure, pigs, Tanzania

Introduction

Pig farming
is an important undertaking which provides opportunity as an income generating
activity for small-scale farmers, especially in developing countries. This
activity is most popular in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia (Costales
et al 2007, Huynh et al 2007). The reasons for keeping pigs include provision of
protein/meat, dowry and manure for fertilising the soil, particularly for
farmers that practice mixed farming.

Small-scale
pig farming is practised in different parts of Tanzania. The pig population is
estimated to be 1 129 223 (Ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries (MLD&F
2006) with skewed distribution. Based on these statistics, the main pig-rearing
regions in Tanzania are Mbeya, Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Kagera and Ruvuma.

A number of
studies have reported the most common production constraints of pig farming in
developing countries to be high mortality rate, low off take, absence or minimal
health care, supplementary feeding and improper housing (Wabacha
et al 2004a, Lekule and Kyvsgaard2003).
Previous work in Tanzania identified the major constraints to be diseases (Ngowi
et al 2004, Esrony et al 1997, Kambarage et al 1990) and lack of animal feeds (Sarwatt
and Lekule 1987).However, there is limited knowledge on production
systems and the constraints facing small-scale pig production have not been
adequately documented in Tanzania. The aim of this study was to characterize
pig production systems and identify production constraints faced by small-scale
pig farming households in Iringa region located in the Southern highlands of
Tanzania.

Materials and methods

Study area

The study was
conducted in Iringa rural and Kilolo districts in Iringa region. The study areas
were chosen after recommendation by Iringa regional and district veterinary
officials as they (districts) have relatively large number of small-scale pig
farmers. Iringa region is located in the Southern highlands zone of Tanzania.
The two districts are located in the eastern and southern part of Iringa region.
The human population in Iringa rural and Kilolo district is 245,623 and 222,530
respectively (KDC 2011,
NBS 2011, REDET 2011).

This study was conducted in four villages in Iringa rural (Ndiwili) and Kilolo (Kilolo,
Luganga and Lulanzi) districts. The villages were purposively selected as they were
considered as representative of small-scale pig farming areas by Iringa regional
and district livestock development officers. A sampling frame was prepared by
listing all farmers in the selected village. This was followed by simple random
selection of 50% of farmers in each village using random numbers, and in total
41 smallholder farms were chosen to participate in this study. These small-scale
farming households were sampled from Kilolo (13), Luganga (6), Lulanzi (14) and
Ndiwili (8) villages.

Data collection

A cross-sectional survey was
adopted whereby the selected farms were visited once during July 2007. The
majority (73.2%) of respondents (n=41) were males. Other characteristics of the
respondents are summarized in Table 1. During the farm visits, a structured
questionnaire was used to collect information on production constraints from
farmers. The questionnaires were administered using face to face method. The
questions focused on identification of production constraints and characterisation of management practices under small-scale pig farming system in
Iringa region. Additional information on flock structure, type of feeds
available and presence of diseased animals was collected through direct
observation.

In order to
quantify the magnitude of mortalities on the farms, retrospective information on
the number of pigs owned and died in each age category (piglets, growers, sows
and boars) within a period of 12 months before the study was collected.
Mortality rate was computed as percentage of deaths (irrespective of cause) of
all animals that were on study farms during the reference period.

Data analysis

Data were entered and analysed
using Epi Info statistical programme (Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) 2008). The data were summarised using
descriptive statistics such as percentages, means and frequency tables. A
comparison of statistical difference between proportions was carried out using
the Chi-squared test.

Results

Household characteristics of pig farmers

A summary of
characteristics of household heads and persons interviewed in the study areas is
shown in Table 1. The majority of the small-scale farmers in the study villages
were of the Hehe tribe followed by the Bena tribe. Other tribes with small
number of people included Wakinga, Haya, Ngoni and Waanji. It was also observed
that the majority of pig farming households was headed by married person
(82.9%). Out of the 34 households headed by married persons, 28 (82.4%) were
monogamous families while 6 (17.6%) were polygamous. The majority of the
interviewees were household heads who were predominantly males (65.9%). The
average age of the interviewees was 38 years (ranged from 18 to 70 years) and
the majority had primary school education. It was observed that pig farmers also
had other main sources of income including crop farming, keeping other livestock
(mainly dairy cattle, chicken, ducks, rabbits and goats), business and a few had
salaried employment. Major crops grown by pig farmers were maize, beans,
potatoes, sunflower, fruit trees and horticultural crops such as tomatoes and
cabbages. The majority of small-scale pig farmers (62.2%) owned a small piece of
land (0.41-2.00 hectares) around their homesteads. However, a few of them
(6.70%) in Kilolo district owned big-sized farms (i.e., 24.4 to 40.5 hectares).

Table 1. Distribution of household and
interviewee characteristics in the study villages

Category

Variable

Overall (n=41)

No. (%)

Iringa rural (n=8)

No. (%)

Kilolo (n=33)

No. (%)

Tribe of household head

Hehe

Bena

Kinga

Other

33 (80.5)

3 (7.30)

1 (2.40)

4 (9.80)

5 (62.5)

0 (0.00)

0 (0.00)

3 (37.5)

28 (84.8)

3 (9.10)

1 (3.00)

1 (3.00)

Marital status of household head

Married

Single

Widow

34 (82.9)

5 (12.2)

2 (4.90)

7 (87.5)

0 (0.00)

1 (12.5)

27 (81.8)

5 (15.2)

1 (3.00)

Age of interviewee

years±StdDev

(range)

38.8±12.3

(18.0-70.0)

38.3±12.7

(24.0-56.0)

38.9±12.4

(18.0-70.0)

Sex of household head

Male

Female

38 (92.7)

3 (7.30)

8 (100.0)

0 (0.00)

30 (90.9)

3 (9.1)

Highest level of education of
interviewee

No formal education

Primary school

Secondary school

6 (14.6)

29 (70.7)

6 (14.6)

2 (25.0)

6 (75.0)

0 (0.00)

2 (12.1)

23 (69.7)

6 (18.2)

Role of interviewee

Daughter

Household head

Son

Wife

2 (4.90)

27 (65.9)

3 (7.30)

9 (22.0)

0 (0.00)

5 (62.5)

1 (12.5)

2 (25.0)

2 (6.10)

22 (66.7)

2 (6.10)

7 (21.2)

Main source of income

Crop farming

Livestock keeping

Business

Salaried employment

41 (100.0)

41 (100.0)

13 (31.7)

6 (14.6)

8 (100.0)

8 (100.0)

3 (37.5)

3 (37.5)

33 (100.0)

33 (100.0)

10 (30.3)

3 (9.10)

†Size
of land owned

0.41-2.00 hectares

>2.00-4.00 hectares

>4.00-10.0 hectares

>10.0 hectares

23 (62.2)

8 (21.6)

4 (10.8)

2 (5.40)

4 (57.1)

3 (42.9)

0 (0.00)

0 (0.00)

19 (63.3)

5 (16.7)

4 (13.3)

2 (6.70)

†Only
37 farmers (7 in Iringa rural and 30 in Kilolo) reported to own land

Livestock
keeping on study farms

Different
livestock species were reared on study farms. Predominant animals owned by
small-scale farmers were pigs (97.5%) and poultry (75.5%) but some farmers also
owned cattle (17.1%), small stock comprising rabbits and guinea pigs (12.2%) and
goats (9.8%). The average number of different animal species owned per household
in the two districts is shown in Table 2.

Table 2.
Number of livestock owned by pig farmers in Iringa and Kilolo
districts

Type of livestock

No. possessed on farm visit day, Mean±StDev (Range)

Overall

Iringa rural

Kilolo

Cattle

8.3±9.7

(3-30)

8.0±0.0

(8-8)

8.3±10.7

(3-30)

Goats

5.0±4.5

(1-11)

1.0±0.0

(1-1)

6.3±4.5

(2-11)

Pigs

2.8±2.0

(1-8)

3.8±2.4

(2-8)

2.7±1.9

(1-7)

Poultry

18.0±21.1

(4-118)

29.8±43.3

(6-118)

15.0±10.6

(4-56)

Small
stock

5.2±5.5

(2-15)

0±0.0

(0-0)

5.2±5.5

(2-15)

Experience
in pig farming

Figure 1
illustrates when farmers started pig farming. It is clear from Figure 1
that the majority (58.5%) of farmers acquired the first animal recently between
2001 and 2006.

Figure 1. Experience in pig-farming based
on year when farmers acquired the first animal

Flock
structure and housing of small-scale pigs in Iringa

Data on
flock structure in the small-scale pig farms are summarised in Table 3. Out of
41 small-scale farms visited 40 (97.5%) had at least one pig in either of the
three age categories of piglets, growers or adults. The proportions of farms
which had piglets (21.9%) or adult pigs (48.8%) were significantly lower (P =
0.000) than those which had growers (70.7%) during the time when the farms were
visited. The difference was noticeable particularly in Kilolo village where out
of 13 households visited, only 7.7% and 30.8% had piglets and adult pigs,
respectively. It was also noted that none of the male pigs in all three age
categories (piglets, growers and adults) was castrated due to unavailability of
this service in the study area.

Table 3.
Flock structure on small-scale pig farms in Iringa

Age-group

(No. of farms with animals in
the category)

No. of farms visited

No. of farms with animals in
respective category

Per cent

Mean±StDev (Range)

No. of farms with animals and
their percentage in each village§
(n, %)

1.
Piglets

41

9

21.9

2.4±2.0

(1-6)

Kilolo (1, 7.7)

Luganga (2, 33.3)

Lulanzi (3, 21.4)

Ndiwili (3, 37.5)

Female piglets

9

6

66.7

2.2±1.5 (1-4)

Male piglets

9

7

77.8

1.3±0.5 (1-2)

2.
Growers

41

29

70.7

2.0±1.2 (1-5)

Kilolo (9, 69.2)

Luganga (3, 50.0)

Lulanzi (9, 64.3)

Ndiwili (7, 87.5)

Female growers

29

20

69.0

1.4±0.6 (1-3)

Male growers

29

19

65.5

1.6±1.0 9 (1-4)

3.
Adults

41

20

48.8

1.7±0.8 (1-4)

Kilolo (4, 30.8)

Luganga (4, 66.7)

Lulanzi (8, 57.1)

Ndiwili (4, 50.0)

Female adults

20

13

65.0

1.5±0.7 (1-3)

Male adults

20

13

65.0

1.1±0.3 (1-3)

4.
Total animals

41

40

97.6

2.8±2.0 (1-8)

Kilolo (12, 92.3)

Luganga (6, 100.0)

Lulanzi (14, 100.0)

Ndiwili (8, 100.0)

Total females

40

29

72.5

2.0±1.2 (1-5)

Total males

40

31

77.5

1.7±1.0 (1-4)

§The
percentage is based on total number of farms visited in Kilolo (13),
Luganga (6), Lulanzi (14) and Ndiwili (8) villages.

Forty-one
farms that were visited during the study period raised pigs in confinement. The
pigs were kept in houses with either a ground (earth and concrete) floor (17.1%)
or raised floor (82.9%). In all 34 pig houses which had raised floor type, the
floor was made of wooden materials. Out of seven pig houses which had ground
floor, five had earth floor while only two had concrete floors.

Source
of labour for rearing pigs

The results
of the present study showed that small-scale pig farming in Iringa region is
predominantly a work of wives (>70%) followed by husbands (Figure 2). Only
few households (4.9%) said that all family members participated in pig farming
in the study area. Children and other members of the family were less involved
in pig farming.

Figure 2. Roles of family members in pig-rearing in Iringa region

Production
constraints in the study farms

A number of
production constraints were identified by farmers in the two districts including
diseases, lack of animal health and lack/inadequacy of extension support and
inadequacy of animal feeds.

Animal
health constraints

Different
animal health problems were reported by respondents (Fig. 3). The major problems
were mange and worm infestation, followed by leg paralysis and abortions. Less
common problems were cysticercosis and diarrhoea.

Ten (6.60%)
out of 151 pigs which were retrospectively traced to have been on farms during
12 months before the study died. Out of 10 pigs that died, 7(14.6%),
2(7.7%) and 1(5.6%) were piglets, sows and a boar, respectively. From this
information, piglets were significantly (p=0.000) at higher risk of death
compared to other age groups. In this study, farmers could not identify causes
of deaths, a finding that supports importance of conducting research to identify
actual causes of deaths in pig farms in Iringa region.

Animal
feeds used by small-scale pig farmers in the study areas

Different
animal feeds were reported to be used as either basal or supplementary feeds
(Table 4). The majority of the respondents said they used maize bran and green
leaves as basal rations provided to pigs. Out of 41 households visited, 36
(87.8%) said they provided pigs with supplementary feeds. The most common feeds
used to supplement pigs were green leaves, sun flower seed cakes, vegetables and
sometimes mineral supplements. Less common supplements were table salt, blood
meal, and brewer’s waste and home remains e.g. rice, beans or local stiff
porridge from maize called ‘ugali’.

All the
small-scale farmers interviewed indicated that they had no problems with
availability of markets for their animals. Live animals were sold either at home
or local butchers. The availability of markets offers an opportunity for
expansion of this income generating activity in the area.

Discussion

The findings
from this study show that small-scale pig farming is an important source of
income, especially in rural areas of Tanzania. It also shows that small-scale
pig farmers do engage in other activities, especially crop farming and keeping
of other livestock such as poultry and cattle to earn their living. Such
findings have also been reported in other countries in Africa and Asia (Kagira
et al 2010, Costales et al 2007, Lemke et al 2006). As in other African
countries, the findings of this study show that small-scale farming is done on
small land holding of <1 up to 2 hectares (Table 1).

The results
of this study also show that women are the major source of labour used to take
care of pigs. These results are in agreement with Sillitoe (2001) in Papua New
Guinea who reported that the daily work of managing pigs is regarded as the duty
of women. In the present study most men were involved in the sale and slaughter
of pigs.

It was also
found that the majority (70.7%) of small-scale pig farmers in the study area had
acquired at least primary school education (Table 1). This could be used as an
opportunity for improvement of pig production by the extension services through
training of farmers and provision of extension materials such as leaflets and
handouts, which can be used to transfer knowledge to the farmers. This is
especially true for the study areas as it was reported that the direct
face-to-face extension service is rarely available to farmers. This is supported
by lack of basic routine services such as castration of animals which was also
evident in this study.

Another
interesting finding was on the pig flock structure of small-scale farms. The
majority of farmers kept small numbers of pigs (1-3 pigs per household) on their
farms. This observation is consistent with the findings under small-scale
farming system in other countries (Ajala et al 2007, Huynh et al 2007). It was
also noted that the majority of farms had growers, followed by adult pigs and
relatively small proportion of farms (21.9%) had piglets. Such an observation
suggests that there are relatively few piglets available on-farm as replacement
stock for future flock build-up of the piggery units in this area. The possible
reasons that may contribute to this observation include movement off farm of
young animals in terms of sale of live piglets or high mortality rate of young
animals in the study area. The result on mortality rate on study farms suggest
that piglets die more often than growers and adult pigs. Other possible
explanation is reproductive inefficiency of sows or even less number of sows in
the study area. This is supported by findings that out of the 41 small-scale pig
farms visited, only 20 (48.8%) had at least one adult female. In the absence of
enough replacement stock, farmers are likely to be forced to buy either piglets
or growers from other farmers in the villages. Therefore, there is an
opportunity for farmers to invest in pig breeding which can offer
replacement stock to other farmers.

Animal
health constraints were perceived by farmers to be important with mange, worms
and leg paralysis being mentioned by the majority of the respondents (farmers).
Although these claims are not supported by laboratory confirmation due to lack
of enough resources, mange and helminth infestations are also prevalent and
commonly reported in other parts of Tanzania (Kambarage et al 1990) and in other
countries (Wabacha et al 2004b). These health constraints may be
attributable to the management system (i.e. indoors) used when pigs are confined
together in small houses, a condition which is suitable for transmission of
mange mites and helminths. Leg paralysis may be caused by physical injury of
animal feet on raised slatted floors as it was commonly observed to be the main
floor type used by farmers. Other possible explanation may be diet-associated
osteopenic conditions due to dietary deficiencies in animal feeds which could
contribute to bone malformation and fractures particularly Vitamin D, phosphorus
or calcium deficiencies (Hejazi and Danyluk 2009).

Locally
available feed resources were used to feed small-scale pigs in the study area.
This finding is shared by other studies in areas where small-scale pig farming
is practised (Ajala et al 2007). All farmers (100%) reported that they used
maize bran as basal ration for pigs. This practice is likely to expose pigs to
limited or unavailability of essential nutrients such as lysine and methionine
which are essential for growth performance in pigs (Lekule and Kyvsgaard 2003).
Unavailability of commercial feeds for pigs is mainly attributed to lack of
reliable animal feed compounding factories in the country after collapse of the
then National Milling Corporation in the late 1970s. Consequently, all (100%)
farmers rely entirely on home-compounded feeds, which are often deficient in
proteins, minerals and vitamins. Therefore, there is a need to promote
investment in animal feed compounding by either public or private entrepreneurs
in order to ensure availability of animal feeds in the country.

Conclusions

The
following conclusions can be drawn from this study;

Small-scale pig production is an important
income generating activity in rural areas of Iringa region

The major production constraints faced by
farmers are: animal health problems (dominated by mange, worm infestation and
leg paralysis), as well as, inadequate nutrition in terms of quality

Opportunities exist in breeding to supply
farmers with replacement stock.

Farmers have readily available markets for
their pigs, indicating that there is a big opportunity for farmers to expand
small-scale pig production operations in the study area.

Acknowledgements

This study
was funded by the African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD/06/A/004)
and we are grateful for the financial support. We also acknowledge the
assistance provided by the extension officers and also sincerely thank farmers
for participating in this study.